Auld Lang Zine
by Leonaria Dragonbane
Summary: A romp in the woods leaves consequences for both parties.  Can Victor forget the past and look to the future or will mysterious deaths from their past destroy them before they even get a chance to begin.
1. Chapter 1

Auld Lang Zine

A/N This will not be super long guys, but this is another of my "where did Victor turn ugly stories. This one will be multiple chapters, and for those lemon lovers out there, not only will there be dual viewpoints on the romp in the woods, but plenty of flash backs to another time. Lemons will abound in this one, I promise.

Chapter 1

She stared at the computer screen, but not really seeing it. She never should have let Susan and Terry talk her into going camping. Camping on a blind date was generally a bad idea anyway, but ad in the fact that she had an unpredictable temper, and the guy they'd tried to set her up with had a complete mutant fetish, and wouldn't stop touching her made the whole situation explosive at best.

Going off on the hike by herself had probably not been the smartest move either, although it had been the lesser of two evils, and she doubted David or Ralph would have helped her hide the little putz' body.

She never should have taken the trail marked private property, either, but she'd wanted to get as far away from the camp for some peace.

The screen flashed and she looked up.

"Miss Welch, are you feeling okay this afternoon?". She glanced up at Martha, her supervisor. The smug look on her face had Melinda biting back a growl and forcing herself to keep her claws sheathed.

"I'm fine." Melinda answered.

"You seem a little distracted."

"I have a lot on my mind."

"Well, leave it at home. Consider this a warning, either shape up, or you can take a few days at home without pay to think about it."

Melinda just nodded. The woman was a bitch, and part of her wanted to ensure Martha never reproduced, the same part that landed her in the trouble she was in now.

Melinda took a deep breath, and held it until Martha was out of sight among the cubicles. She picked up her phone and buzzed Susan two rows over.

"Bathroom break, now." She said and hung up. By God, if she had to deal with this so did Susan and David.

She logged off her computer, and walked to the women's room. She was splashing cold water on her face when Susan came in, and after checking all the stalls, leaned against the sink counter.

"So? What's up?"

Melinda pulled a plastic bag with wadded up paper towels inside. She opened the bag and pulled out the three offending plastic sticks.

"That's what's up." She said as she laid them on the counter, the offending little windows with their oh so clear results practically glowing in the bathroom lights.

"Shit...how did...are you kidding...Shit?" Susan just stared at the sticks. "Okay, I think we can rule out a beam of light through the ear, because you are no Virgin Mary. Seriously, how the hell did this happen?"

"Remember the camping trip?" Melinda looked in the mirror, she actually had dark circled under her eyes from not sleeping.

"Yeah, you didn't let that creep..." Susan started.

"No, the hike I took." Melinda was looking at the small bandage on her left ring finger.

"Yeah, listen we don't have all day here so spill already."

"I came across a trail marked private." Melinda turned and leaned back against the counter. "There was a guy camping up there, and no I'm not giving details, but things went from polite chit chat to hot and physical really quick. I swear it was my damned mutation acting out."

"This guy, did you get a name?" Melinda could see how the news was tying Susan up in knots.

"uhh no." Miranda said as the door opened and Terry came in.

"Neither of you were at your desks, and Martha's on a war path." Terry said as she checked the stalls again.

Melinda gathered up the evidence and quickly stuffed it in her pocket.

"My place, after work." She said as she slipped back to her desk. Her friends nodded, and she watched them exchange concerned looks.

She did her level best to concentrate on work, but her mind kept going to those three little sticks in her pocket and the very frightening prospect of having to track down the one person in the world she wished she could avoid.

Later that evening, curled up with hot cocoa and her warm footies she tried to remember every moment that led up to this mess. The problem was, all she really could remember was a haze of pure pleasure and the taste of his blood in her mouth.

She heard the buzz for the outer door of her building and walked to the door to hit the response button.

"Flowers for Miss Melinda Welch." She groaned, but buzzed the florist in. If they were from that jerk from the camping trip again she was going to drop them out the window. She was waiting at the door. Behind the delivery guy Susan and Terry were grinning like loons. Melinda could see why, there must be four dozen roses in that vase. The girls helped her get it in the door and on a table.

She yanked the card out of Susan's hand.

"We need to talk, Victor" was all the front said, the back had a cell phone number on it.

"So, who's Victor?" Susan asked with a dramatic whoosh of air as she dropped onto the couch. Melinda just glared at her.

"I'm assuming you've filled Terry in?" Melinda said as she sat back down in her favorite chair, dropping the card on the table next to her.

"Oh yeah, how the hell did you, of all people, get knocked up?" Terry was looking at her in awe. Terry knew just how much Melinda wanted a child of her own, to the expense of in-vitro fertilization about three years ago, a complete and utter failure. Of course that was why she really needed to keep this stupid job now. She'd spent probably thirty years of savings, just trying to get pregnant.

"It was very hard, I just had to find some random guy in the bushes and jump his bones for three hours." She quipped back, at least her sense of humor was coming back.

"Alright, so finish." Susan said throwing a pillow at her.

"Well, I took that hike, met this guy camping on a private trail, and one thing led to another."

"That had to be some campsite. Knowing you, it was super primitive, without a single luxury, and I bet he was too."

"Alright, enough. You're not here to criticize my taste in men or campsites. I need help. What the hell am I going to do?"

"What do you mean, what are you going to do?" Susan glared at her. Melinda glared back.

"My healing's all wonky. I burned my hand yesterday, and it's still blistered. I'm scared to death. I've never had my healing fail on me before."

"I thought you were talking about the baby? How the hell do we know what's wrong with your mutation?" Terry said.

"Well the mutation thing is kind of going to dictate how I deal with the baby." Melinda said, sipping from her cocoa.

"How's that?" Susan asked.

"Well, if my factor's wonky, I don't think telling the father is a good idea, at least not until the kid is born, he wasn't exactly honorable Abe the park ranger."

"Who the hell is he?" Terry and Susan shouted.

"I don't know." Melinda said, sounding much calmer than she felt.

"You mean you had sex with some guy and didn't get his name or phone number.'" Susan said.

"Yep that would be me, Miss Irresponsible."

"So who's Victor?"

Melinda just looked at Terry and blinked several times. She wasn't sure who Victor was, herself, how was she supposed to tell them.

"I have no clue who Victor is." This time it was Melinda who threw the pillow at Terry. "And my sex life is not up for discussion here." She said.

"Well, you are knocked up, so it does factor in somewhere." Susan said with a smirk.

"Shut up." Melinda said. "What the hell am I going to do."

"Well right now you're going to pick up that phone and call this Victor guy." Terry said, with a determined voice.

"What the hell does he have to do with any of this?"

"For all you know, he's the guy." Terry said.

"No, I mean, that's a three hundred dollar bouquet of flowers, the guy I met, well my guess is he's some drifter or something." Melinda said

"You won't know until you call him." Terry said.

"Okay, call him, set up a meeting in a public place, that way if it is the guy you can tell him where he won't make a scene, and if it isn't, well you've got a chance to meet a guy that throws three hundred dollars away on dead plants." Susan said.

"Shit." Melinda looked at the card. If it was him, how the hell did he track her down. Why would he say they needed to talk. Her fingers strayed to the other reminder of that afternoon, a scar on her left shoulder, where he'd bitten her. She never scarred but this had. So had the one she'd given him. It puzzled her, but right now that wasn't as important as finding out who the father of her child was, and telling him.

"Mel, its not like you don't want the baby, shit you've been trying for a long time. You were going to go anonymous at the fertility clinic, why not pass this one off as a fertility treatment and forget the guy." Terry said.

Melinda jumped at a muffled noise from her bedroom. "Guys, I don't think we're alone."

Susan jumped up and grabbed the aluminum bat from by the front door, Terry grabbed the vase of flowers and stood on top of a chair to one side of the door to Melinda's bedroom. Melinda reached into the table next to her chair and pulled out her .38.

"Who's there?" Melinda yelled.

Susan walked over, and pulled the door open suddenly. The intruder hissed and jumped back. It was Angel, Melinda's cat.

"Whew." They all said at once.

"Okay, I'm really on edge." Melinda said. She sat down and the cat jumped into her lap. She looked at the card on the table and picked up her cell phone. "You guys don't go anywhere."

They both glared at her while she dialed the number.

"Hello." She cringed, it was him, she'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"It's Melinda. Thanks for the flowers." She glared at Terry who was miming putting her finger down her throat.

"You're welcome. We need to talk."

"Yeah, that's what the card said. How did you find me?"

He chuckled. "I checked with the park, there was only one group up by my place, and of the three frails in the group you were the only one that didn't share a last name with one of the males. I looked up all the Melinda Welches in New York, and picked the one that had been leasing her apartment the longest."

"Damn, nice detective work." She said, kicking herself for wanting to stay in one place.

"So, talk?"

"Umm, can I buy you a cup of coffee."

"You can open the damned door." She could hear a snarl in his voice.

"Terry, open the front door." She said.

"Not that door." He said on the phone.

"Then what door?"

"Front closet."

"WHAT!" She stood up, hung up the phone, and walked to her coat closet and threw the door open. She could see why he needed her to open the door, the door handle only worked on the outside.

"You've been here the whole time."

"I've been in and out for the better part of two weeks." He said as he stepped out and straightened his suit jacket.

"That's just a little stalkerish, don't you think?" She said. Susan had the bat raised to hit him.

"Stand down girls, I think if he was going to hurt us, he would have already."

"Nice call." He walked over and sat down on her couch. "I'll take that coffee, now."

"Wha..." Melinda just looked at him in shock. Terry put the gun she was holding down, and walked to the kitchen.

"I've been trying to find you to tell you about the scar thing." He said. "After I found you and I picked up your scent, I didn't want anyone hurting the mother of my cub."

"Cub?"

"And that reminds me, do you not know how to look both ways before crossing a street, they're called crosswalks for a reason. And who the hell told you knives didn't have to be sharp to work, I swear, frail, this place is practically a death trap." He was growling.

"Excuse me." Now she was getting pissed. "Just who the hell do you think you are, barging into my home, going through my things, and trying to tell me how to cross a fucking street. There's the door, leave your name and number and I'll have an attorney contact you about child support." She shouted.

"No, not gonna happen." He said, standing slowly. Something about the way he moved made her instincts scream danger. "You're carrying my cub, that makes you mine to protect and control."

He moved so fast she didn't have time to react. He grabbed her throat, and she could feel his claw tips pressing against her skin as he lifted her off the floor and almost gently slammed her head against the wall.

"This is how things are going to work. You're going to pack a bag, we're going to my penthouse, where I'm seriously considering bubble wrap for the next seven to eight months, at which point we will decide what's best for the cub. You are going to quit your job, and only leave the building with an escort. I am NOT having the mother of my cub in danger again. Am I clear." She was glaring at him, wondering if she had enough strength for a good kick to his groin.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You have two options. You can get your ass in there and pack, or these two friends of yours are going to be the six o'clock news because I'll throw their dead and desiccated corpses into the street."

"Like hell."

"I don't want to do this the hard way, frail. I've had enough." He turned his head and glared at Susan who was pounding on his back with the ball bat. "And you, can you move that a little lower, I haven't had a good massage lately, and you're missing the knot in my lower back."

Melinda was stunned by the predatory grin on his face.

"Give me a real reason to go with you." She said. Surprisingly he wasn't cutting off her air, but if she hung there much longer she was going to pass out from the pain.

What shocked her was the look that crossed his face, it wasn't anger, but pain and grief. He cut it off just as quickly as it happened, but she caught it.

"My wife was murdered while she was pregnant, I wasn't able to protect them." She felt his arm relax as she was lowered softly to the floor. She just nodded.

"Okay, give me time to pack."

"What?"

"I'm reasonable. If you give me a reason for something, I'll probably agree to it, unless it goes against something I believe in strongly." She said. "Besides, you're the baby's father. You should have some say in things."

Her two friends stood there slack jawed.

"You two better get home. I'll call you later."

"Mel...have you lost your mind?"

"No, go home I'll call you later."

It took ten minutes of him glaring and her cajoling but they finally left.

"I don't suppose I get to know your name?" She asked, after closing the door behind Terry.

"Victor Creed. Some people call me Sabretooth."

She gulped for a second. This was a bigger mess than she thought it was.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Jinx, some of this was written just for you...as for the rest. There are a few questions answered...and more posed. Its much more complicated than you might think, or then again, knowing me...and my readers, you know just how complicated and twisted I can get before resolving everything in the end.

Chapter 2

He had no idea how he was going to deal with this. What Moira told him about the scars was bad enough, but now a cub? It wasn't that he didn't relish getting it right at least once, but this wasn't what he'd hoped the situation would be.

She was taking her sweet time packing, and he was finding more and more to criticize about her life. She had no regard for safety, knives were just thrown in a drawer as if her healing factor would always be there. She needed to realize for the next seven to eight months, or within two weeks of delivery, her healing was gone, and she would be susceptible to every disease she came in contact with, as well as casual injuries that would be suddenly life threatening, because she wasn't able to fight off infections.

"Do you have a doctor yet?" He asked as he flipped through a stack of books on a table.

"No, finding a good OB/Gyn is hard enough without trying to find one that will take mutants, I'm looking, though." He just nodded, even though she couldn't see his agreement with her statement.

He felt something against his leg and looked down. It was the damned cat. He glared, he growled, he snarled, but all she did was look up at him and say "mmmrroowwwww".

He pushed her gently out of the way, but she came right back, rubbing against his ankles and letting him know she wanted him to sit down. Every time he'd been in the apartment, she'd kept at him until he sat down and she could jump in his lap. Truth to tell he was actually getting attached to the damn animal.

He heard Melinda moving around in the bathroom, so he sat down on the couch. The cat, as he expected jumped into his lap and half climbed up his chest to look him in the eye and then start rubbing her face on his cheeks. He rubbed back, his hands supporting her little body, and stroking her back. He was so intent on the cat that Melinda's voice startled them both.

"Are you just going to sit there?"

"What do you want me to do?" He asked, trying to soothe the startled cat.

"Put the little traitor in her carrier," which landed next to him on the couch, "and pack some cat food, it's in the kitchen , if you didn't already know."

He bit back the growl. She had every right to be pissed. He was honestly trying to stay calm and not wring her little neck. She had no idea what they'd landed in with the scars, and he was royally pissed off at himself for starting the whole biting thing in the first place.

He hadn't known when he bit her that it would start a chain reaction. He closed the door on the cat carrier. The little feline face looked up at him as if he'd stepped on one of her young or something. Great, the cat was pissed at him too.

Moira told him, after much threatening, pleading, cajoling, and flat bribery to fund her next project, that the scars were semi-permanent. Unfortunately, she'd also told him how they became permanent, and that cub condemned them both to a life of matehood.

He pulled out a bag of dry cat food and a couple cans of wet and put them next to the cat carrier. He looked at the two suitcases and a cosmetics bag and groaned. He pulled out his phone and called the garage.

"I'm going to need the limo." He growled into the phone. No way in hell he was carrying all this shit to Manhattan.

The final tally was three large suitcases, one cosmetics bag and an over night bag, the cat carrier, the bag of food, and the vase of roses. He had to growl at the driver seven times on the short drive to the Creed building because of the stupid chuckles.

They got out of the car at his private elevator in the garage under the building. The driver helped carry the bags into the elevator, and Victor was glad to see the last of his knowing grin ad the doors finally closed.

He put his key into the slot and the elevator began to move.

"Do you have to play this awful music?" She asked.

"No, I like Jazz." He said, with a growl. This wasn't going to be easy, not like the first time.

_"She's gone. I want that no good son of a bitch arrested. He took my girl." Joe Belden snarled as he pointed at Victor. Victor just grinned at the trouble maker. He hadn't left this chair all day, and since it was the town sheriff sitting across the chessboard from him, he doubted that anyone would reasonably assume he had anything to do with whatever Joe was screaming about this time._

_"Now, Joe, Vic here's been with me all day, and I know I saw Mandy over by the general store an hour ago, she's prob'bly wondered off somewhere." Fred said calmly._

_"That freak had somethin ta do with it." Joe yelled. Now Victor was starting to get angry._

_"Joe, jest calm down, we'll start lookin' for tha girl." Fred said._

_Victor grunted, so much for finishing his game of chess. He knew the girl, he'd seen her several times when Joe and his hands were in town. He felt sorry for the poor girl, half ragged, and always seemed tired when he saw her. He slipped away from the table and strolled over to the general store. He made a few small purchases, and walked back to the sheriff's office, where his horse was standing patiently. He tied his small parcels to the saddle, and the followed the faint scent he'd picked up at the store._

_He found her sitting on a log in a clearing. She either wasn't aware of the three young men in breechclouts sneaking up on her, or she didn't care. She had a threadbare book in her hand, and seemed lost to the world._

_One of the men moved to grab her, and Victor charged with a roar. He wasn't taking the blame for a few foolish braves thinking to grab a woman. Hell they weren't even really old enough to know what to do with her if they did grab her._

_She jumped and screamed as he chased the boys away._

_"Sorry 'bout that." He said._

_"No, thank you. I jest didn't hear 'em." She was shaking, Victor slipped off his coat and draped it around her shoulders._

_"Your Pa's lookin for you." He said as he put an arm around her shoulder. She just folded in half and started to cry. He let out a low growl of frustration, but she just cried harder._

_He picked her up and started back toward town. He could hear the loud voices calling her name as they got closer._

_"There he is, and he's got mah girl." Joe shouted. Victor groaned. This wasn't going to end well._

_"Vic, where'd ya find her?"_

_"Back in the woods, some of the tribal boys were sneakin up on her. I ran 'em off, 'n then she started cryin." Victor said as he set the girl on her feet. She clung to his arm instead of running to her Pa._

_"He jest ran them off, Pa." She said as she tried to hide behind Victor._

_"Shut up, girl." Joe snarled. "He had her, he compromised mah girl." Victor actually rolled his eyes at Fred, but was surprised by the serious look on the sheriff's face._

_"Victor, this is a serious charge, and you ain't got nothin but some tribal boys ta back up your story, if they would. I'm gonna have ta lock ya up til the judge gets here." Victor growled low._

_"Now don't be like that, Judge Farris should be here this afternoon or tomorrow mornin at the latest." Fred said._

_"What about the girl?" The way she was clinging to him, he was afraid they'd find her dead, and then he'd be hung for murder, not that it would do much, but hanging hurt._

_"She's goin home with me." Joe started._

_"Now hold on, Joe. She's the only reliable witness we got, she's gonna have ta go ta lockup too, jest for the night, 'less the judge shows up later."_

_Victor could hear Joe muttering under his breath. "Now what the hell am I gonna do about supper? Damn girls more trouble than she's worth."_

_He followed Fred, the girl clinging to his arm, fear rolling off her in waves as they passed a group of loggers that worked for Joe in the logging camp outside of town. One of them, Conrad, glared at the girl, and spat on the ground in front of her._

_"Whore." He muttered. Victor grabbed him by the throat, pushing the girl behind him to protect her as he moved._

_"Say that again, I dare ya." He let his claws slip out along the side of Conrad's neck, cutting four parallel wounds that bled into the palm of his hand._

_"Victor!" Fred shouted._

_Victor dropped Conrad on the ground._

_"Show some respect." Victor growled, then turned to follow Fred._

_He didn't say a word as Fred opened the door to one of the two cells in the town's small jail. Mandy went just as quietly into the other one._

_"I'll just go get the board, we can finish up the game 'til the judge gets here." Fred said as he locked the doors._

_"Thank you." She said quietly._

_"It was nothin." He growled._

_"Pa wants me ta marry Conrad, but I hate him." Her voice was soft._

_"Then your Pa's an idiot, but I already knew that."_

_"There's rumors you're rich." She said._

_He laughed. "Na, I trap, make enough ta get by."_

_What people in this backwoods Canadian logging town didn't know wouldn't hurt them. He was ninety years old, he had money, it just didn't mean anything to him._

_"I think Pa wants the judge ta order you to pay, least that's what I overheard them talkin about last night."_

_"Is that why you wandered off?" He was getting angry._

_"No, they were gonna try ta get you in a fight. Ah jest wanted ta read mah book and Pa always cuffs mah ear when ah try ta read at home. 'Says it's no god for a woman ta read, they get above themselves."_

_Victor bit back a growl. He didn't agree about a woman reading, he'd met several nursed in the war who were very well read. Now that the Kaiser's troops were defeated, he could relax at home a bit. He had a little cabin up the mountain, he trapped and hunted and fished, and got by okay. His brother was off seeing the world but Victor just wanted to be left alone._

_Fred came in with the chess board and he forgot the girl in the other cell as he started trying to map out moves on the board. He'd carved this set for Fred last year, and enjoyed a couple good games when he came to town for supplies._

_He finally made his move when the door flew open and Judge Farris walked in. Victor growled again. They were never going to finish this game._

_"I hear we got an accused rapist?" Farris asked._

_"No, just a misunderstanding." Fred said. "Vic here was with me all day til the girl went missing. He went off on his own, claims ta have scared off some tribal boys, got someone checkin with the chief on that. We'd been lookin about half an hour when he comes up carryin the girl. She was wearin his jacket, but I didn't see nothin wrong with her clothes. Joe is in an uproar 'bout it, but 'far as I can tell, the girl says it happened how Vic said."_

_"I'm gonna want ta talk ta the girl alone." The judge said. Judge Farris had the reputation for being fair, and for making the punishment fit the crime. Victor figured he'd be on his way to his cabin in less than an hour._

_One hour later Victor still couldn't believe what happened. He was leading his horse back to his cabin, he glanced back at the passenger riding on the saddle, a small carpet bag with all her worldly possessions in it tied to the pommel._

_"You got two choices, as I see it, boy." The Judge had said. "Either marry the girl, or hang."_

_Victor hadn't thought very long or hard. Mandy wasn't hard on the eyes and she knew how to keep house so he wouldn't have to train her, and something to warm his bed nightly he wasn't going to turn down._

_He'd even made a sort of ring out of some copper wire he had in his pocket, and Judge Farris performed the ceremony. Joe had been pissed, and that had just made Victor sure he'd made the right choice._

_"You didn't have ta do this." She said as he led the horse to the front door of the cabin._

_"Darlin' I can smell the pain and fear you were in. Hell you're less scared of me than you are of your Pa." He said as he lifted he down from the horse._

_The peck of a kiss at the wedding hadn't done anything but whet his appetite, and he leaned down and gave her a real kiss. She was hesitant at first, but by the time the horse nudged them, her hands were wrapped around his neck and she was just as enthusiastic as he was._

The ding of the elevator reaching the penthouse floor pulled him back to the present. He glanced at Melinda, and picked up the cat cage and two of the bags. He pressed the button to keep the door open and carried his load into the living room.

"Wow. When you said penthouse, I thought you were joking." She said.

"Nope, your room's at the end of the hall." He pointed, "last door on the left. The gym is across the hall. If a door's locked, don't mess with it, I store some of my brother's shit and I have no idea what's in there." He dragged the rest of her things out of the elevator, removed his key and let the door close. From inside the room it was a bookcase filled with first edition novels. His eye was drawn to one tattered book, "John Carter of Mars" could barely be made out on the spine. He felt a lump in his throat, and growled to clear it. The past was the past, he couldn't change it.

"I'll see what I can do about finding you a doctor. You should probably call work and tell them you won't be back."

"What?" She said as she unfastened the door of the cat carrier. He smelled a surge of fear, the last thing he expected.

"I don't want you to leave here without someone with you."

"Why?" He could hear suspicion in her voice.

He picked up a stack of papers he'd left on the coffee table in the living room.

"This should answer that." He said and stormed off to his study, fear was something he normally enjoyed, but not in the woman carrying his cub. He could hear her muttering, but made the conscious decision not to listen. He pulled an old watch out of his pocket. Inside, on the cover, an enamel portrait of Mandy looked back at him.

"Darlin, I don't know, I can't be around people, not on that day. I love ya. I don't remember if I ever told ya. I think you knew, I know, that day you told me about the cub I couldn't have been more proud. We never had much in the way of fancy stuff, never needed it. I still miss ya. Its been ninety-two years and I still wake up missin ya in my arms." He closed the watch.

Both cubs were conceived on the same day, ninety-two years apart. He always went away, always took time to remember his little Mandy on the anniversary of their wedding. Melinda caught him by surprise. He'd been thinking of his wedding night, when she walked up the path, and never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he'd taken advantage. Now, reluctantly, he had her under his roof. e leaned back in his desk chair. The only thing missing this time was Jimmy, and he hadn't spoken to Victor in almost twenty-five years.

Victor felt a strange chill down his spine. James was the reason Mandy died, Lissa died. Would this have a chance, if James wasn't involved? He slammed his fist on the desk, then uncurled his fist and extended his claws. He drew them across the expensive mahogany of the desktop, watching curls of wood twine behind the tips.

So many things in his life were all twisted up, like those pieces of wood shavings. He didn't know if straightening things out would be a good thing or a bad thing.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N I know 2 updates in one night. I needed to get this chapter written. It's ugly and dark and of course only leaves more questions.

Chapter 3

She heard something slam in another room as she unpacked. She felt a knot form in her gut. It was one thing to objectively agree that something was for the best, but now, things were starting to follow a pattern she swore she'd never live in again.

She could hear him moving around, and worked as quickly as she could to finish up.

"Dinner?" He stuck his head in the room. She couldn't smell any anger on him, but still jumped.

"I'll get on it." She dropped the skirt she was hanging.

"What?" He looked honestly puzzled. "No, I was asking what you wanted, I'm ordering."

"Oh." She leaned over to pick up the skirt but he was faster.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just nervous in a strange place." She couldn't look at him. Flashes of Edgar's face, even after all this time, had her in a near state of panic.

"Fine, ordering Chinese." He growled.

"Anything with seafood." She said. He grunted and walked back down the hall. Shit, he had the same mutation she did, he'd know she was lying, know she was scared out of her mind. She couldn't stop the attacks. They just happened sometimes. She had two ways of dealing with them, curl up in a corner and cry, or just sit down and let the image play out. She chose the latter.

_"She's a good girl, Edgar, other than her strange fingernails, there's nothing wrong with her." She could hear her father talking to Old Man Rockefeller. Five wives in fifteen years, and all of them died childless, and now her father wanted her to marry him._

_It wasn't like she'd have a choice in the matter. Good girls from upper class society did what they were told, married who they were told, and made the best of whatever situation they were in, especially if their father lost almost everything in the crash and was trying to shore up his collapsing fortune by marrying off his only daughter._

_Just two years ago Amelia Earhart had flown across the Atlantic, but at fourteen, Melinda didn't have much hope of changing anything her father decreed. She could hear them discussing the business of the marriage and she knew she was doomed._

_Three days later, in a small ceremony, in tune with the destitute times, she and Edgar Rockefeller were married._

_She'd thought it was going to be bad, by the time she woke on the morning after her wedding, she knew her father had sold her to the Devil, and nothing was going to save her, ever. Her entire body was covered head to toe in bruises from his beating._

_"A woman must obey her husband, and I'm a firm believer in teaching early and often the penalty for disobedience." He said as his fist crashed into her back, cracking at least two ribs._

_She also discovered that, unlike other members of his family, he didn't believe in servants inside his household. She moved as quickly as she could trying to have his breakfast ready before he came down stairs. The beating had only been half of the humiliation and suffering. The things he'd made her do, and had done to her made her stomach roll._

_"You do not look at me." He snarled and slapped her to the floor, a pan of bacon falling onto her back, and she screamed in pain from the burns. He picked up the pan and hit her across her hip, and she felt a crack._

_"Start again." He snarled. "I'll be in my study. If breakfast is not ready in twenty minutes, last night will seem like a lover's kiss." He then leaned down and gently kissed her bloody forehead. "Twenty minutes."_

She started at a loud noise.

"Dinner's here." She heard him shout.

Melinda stood and took a deep breath. "He's not Edgar, He's not Edgar." She said out loud as she walked slowly from the room.

She sat quietly, the seafood stir-fry he'd ordered barely registering as she ate it. Finally she cleared her throat.

"I want to keep my job." She said finally.

"Why?" He looked puzzled.

"I need some independence." She said, hoping he'd understand without her having to explain.

"Did you read any of that?" He asked, snarling.

"Yes, I can set up an arrangement to work from here, but I want to keep working." She said. "I know it will be dangerous for me to go out, and avoiding as much human contact for the next few months will be the best bet, but I need to know I have something that is mine."

He stared at her, a lo-mien noodle hanging from his lip. "If you can arrange it, that would be fine. I just don't want you exposed to anything. It's just too fucking dangerous."

She really did understand that now. What he'd given her had been a scientific report on people with her type of mutation and how pregnancy effected the females. The lack of an immune system really scared her. There were so many things that she'd taken for granted with her healing factor. The whole bite and mate thing had been a little more than she was ready to deal with, but evidently because she was pregnant, they were stuck together and not just until the child was born, but for life.

Somehow being someone's mate for life didn't scare her as much as the dreaded M word. She'd sworn to never get married again and nothing was going to change her mind.

"So, your wife..." She started.

"I don't want to talk about it." He snarled. She nodded. She tried to forget who she was sitting across the table from, but from his reputation, she was beginning to wonder if his wife's death had been at his hands.

"I was just going to say, it was tragic."

"It happened ninety-one years ago, and I still miss her." He said softly. She didn't expect the emotion and she just nodded.

"So what's with the panic attack?" He asked. She bristled. She didn't want him prying into her private issues. And that's when it hit her, he was turning the tables on her.

"I have a little Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, certain situations cause flashbacks." She said simply.

"PTSD...seriously, you have PTSD. Shit frail, let me give you a run down, Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom. I'd say I have more reason for PTSD than you do."

"Probably." She said softly, avoiding the confrontation. She just had to avoid confrontation, avoid setting off his reputable temper, and she might survive this, at least until the child was born.

"DON'T do that!" He roared at her. "If you're gonna bring something up, then by God be ready to back your position. I ain't gonna hurt you, you're carrying my cub, so don't be so fuckin scared and tell me off to my face if you think I'm an asshole."

She was stunned. She'd never had anyone catch her at her game of avoidance, not and call her on it so completely.

"Alright, I was fourteen when my father married me off to an older man. He abused me, this was before my healing was fully activated, it just kept me alive if any major damage was done. It finally kicked in when I was sixteen, after he'd cut the baby that I was five months pregnant with out of my belly." She shouted the last at him.

He sat there stunned.

"Okay, you have grounds for PTSD. You avoid my room when I'm having nightmares, and I'll avoid yours." He said, then picked up his fork and started eating. As simple as that he just dropped it. She was trembling, but somehow felt like something had been lifted off of her. She turned back to her plate and finished her dinner in silence.

He got up, dumped his plate in the sink, and stalked was the only word she could use for the movement, back to his study. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She stood up, walked to the kitchen sink and rinsed both of their plates and put them in the dishwasher, which was full, so she found the soap and filled it, and started the machine.

"That's what my housekeeper's for." He said from the study.

"Sorry, just habit." She said.

She heard a light growl, and walked back to her room to finish unpacking. She was starting to regret the spite that had made her pack every single piece of clothing, and even the empty tube of toothpaste from the bathroom of her apartment. At least she had her own bathroom, as a matter of fact, she had basically a guest suite that was almost as big as her apartment.

She sat back down in the chair, tears flowing down her face. She'd told him, and he hadn't thrown her away. Of course she hadn't told him the whole thing, and once he knew, she didn't think he'd want her around his cub, even if she was supposedly his mate.

_She cowered against the wall as Edgar grabbed her hair. He dragged her down the stairs, and she was barely able to keep her footing as he dragged her down the basement stairs. He had Ian, the sweet Irish boy who took care of the gardens, hung by his wrists, his body a bloody mess, a bloody whip laying on a stool nearby._

_"I know what you've done. Betrayed me with the gardener. Its his brat growing in your belly. Do you love him?" Edgar slammed his fist into her face. She cried, but couldn't move as he stood behind the poor boy and slit his throat. Those terror filled eyes would haunt her the rest of her life as the light faded from them._

_"Edgar, no one will know." She'd done it to try to give him a son, an heir, the one thing he couldn't do on his own. He was sterile, he wouldn't believe it, but that was the only answer._

_"You think I want some Irish whelp's son?" He grabbed her hair and slammed her to the floor. The knife was still in his hand and she knew he was going to kill her. What he did next was worse. He sliced open her belly, she could feel his hands digging inside her, and felt something ripped from her body. It was small, no bigger than the palm of his hand, and he wrapped his fist around it, crushing it, blood oozing from between his fingers._

_"Now it's your turn." Edgar sneered, raising the knife. She felt a strange warmth over her body and then searing pain, almost in reverse of what Edgar had done. Suddenly, she felt strong again. He was looking at her in horror, and she wouldn't understand until later exactly why. She stood up, and lunged at him, grabbing the knife. She didn't know how many times she stabbed him, or when she'd switched from the knife to her bare hands and claws, but by the time she came back to herself, cowering in the corner of the basement, he was nothing but a bloody mass against a wall. _

_She ran up the stairs, and through the house, for once grateful he had no household servants to catch her. She found jewels and gold stashed in his study, and stuffed them into a bag. She dressed in one of the few 'public' dresses he'd given her, for those times when she had to be seen by the public, and put the bag on the entry floor. She went back into his study and lit a match, putting it at the bottom of one of his precious bookshelves. The books would go up quickly, and hopefully they'd think she'd died in the fire._

_She slipped out, the dark night covering her tracks better than anything else. She traveled quietly, the heavy bag her lifeline to a new existence. At the docks she found a ship heading to the farthest place she could think of, and bought passage as Melinda Welch. Australia would be home for a while, until she understood exactly what happened._

_As she was cleaning away the blood, she found her skin unscarred, her twisted leg that had healed wrong was straight again, and her face, a mass of burn and cut scars had smoothed, and she actually recognized the girl, no woman, looking out of the mirror. No one would recognize her, not since her father died last year, and so few people had seen her before he'd scarred her. She could probably live safely in New York, but she needed the physical distance from what she'd done. She'd taken a human life. She didn't deserve the mercy of man, God wouldn't have any mercy on her, not only had she killed a man, she'd killed her lord and husband._

She shook herself out of the memory and grabbed her night shirt from where she'd laid it on the bed. She climbed into the shower, her hands just barely able to feel the slight bump in her abdomen. She finally was pregnant, but there was no way the father would want her, not when he found out she'd murdered her own husband.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N A lemony treat, and hopefully I'll have time over the next few days to work on more than this.

Chapter 4

_She could hear someone talking, and the air was filled with the most amazing scent. She'd never smelled anything this intense. It rolled over her senses, more a taste than a smell, like a velvet mist on her skin, even through her clothes. She could feel her body responding, tensing for something, she just didn't know what._

_As she stepped into the clearing, she was impressed. For a primitive camp, it was almost homey. A lean-to shelter was almost fully enclosed by pine boughs, with ventilation down low to allow cooler air into the shelter. The fire pit was lined with stone, and cemented in place by what looked like years of ash accumulation. There was a drying rack, with a fire under it, covered with strips of meat, she wasn't able to identify the species. A roast of some sort was across the main fire on a spit, and the man that was reaching to turn it made her stomach do flip flops._

_She was actually surprised at her reaction, she'd never met a man that could completely consume her senses. Visually he was as perfect as his scent, rustic, with wild mutton chop side burns, a scruffy half growth of hair on his cheeks and chin. His deep grey eyes glared at her with fire, and annoyance. He was wearing a dark wife beater T-shirt, a name she was never comfortable with, and dark cargo pants with combat style boots. The shirt fit like a second skin and she could see he took very good care of himself. She could imagine his thick arms wrapping around her._

_"Hey!" He shouted._

_"Sorry, I was..." She blushed._

_He gave a half chuckle, more of a snort but with a half smile. "I can smell what you were."_

_She blushed even more. Her face felt hotter than the fire he was leaning over._

_"I didn't mean to disturb you, I was just hiking to clear my head, my friends thought it would be a good idea to bring a blind date along on a camping trip and I had to get away before I killed him and..."_

_"Damn, frail, take a breath." He chuckled as he stood. She trembled. Somehow, she'd misjudged his height, he was at least a foot taller than she thought. She had a weakness for tall men, they didn't remind her of the past._

_"You gonna just stand there and drool, or leave?" He flashed her a huge grin that sealed her fate, he had fangs like she did. "There is a third option."_

_He tilted his head to the lean-to, and she blushed even deeper, her face had to be purple by this point. She felt her body move before she made a conscious decision to do so, and didn't really realize what she was doing until he whipped her tank top off over her head and she felt his rough tongue along the side of her neck, and trailing down her chest._

_"Mmm, tasty treat." He growled as he licked her erect nipple. She just moaned, and slipped her fingers into his hair. It was longer than she was used to on a man, but it felt like soft fur between her fingers. She didn't even feel her shorts being removed, but she certainly felt his deep thrust between her thighs and she let out a scream of both pain and pleasure. Before long she was just riding a wave of pure bliss when she felt a searing pain in her neck._

_It brought her back to reality as he lifted his bloodstained lips and let out a primal growl, demanding something. She felt her own chest rumble, and a strength she's only felt once before, as she pulled his head to the side, and leaned up to grab the muscle between the neck and shoulder with her teeth. The first spurt of blood into her lips tasted like heaven, and she didn't let up on the pressure as she felt the flesh trying to heal around her teeth._

_Finally, he yanked her head back with his greater strength._

_"Enough, kitten." He whispered as he licked his blood from her lips. He withdrew from her body and flipped her to her stomach like a rag-doll._

_"Kitten likes." He moaned as he thrust deep again from the new angle. She roared again, but his clawed hand in her hair kept her head and chest pressed to the pine bedding._

_She honestly didn't know how long it lasted, but he finally withdrew and dropped onto his back next to her on the pines. She slowly wilted onto her stomach and he pulled her over onto his chest._

_"Damn, Kitten, I needed that." He whispered. His fingers stroked her hair, and his sudden roar surprised her. "WHAT THE HELL!"_

_His fingers found the spot on her neck that was still sore._

_He sat up, dragging her with him, and holding her in place with an iron grip._

_"What the fuck?" His fingers were exploring his own neck, where she'd bitten him._

_He snarled and growled, the threw her clothes at her._

_"Get out." He roared._

_She grabbed her things and ran._

She woke with a start. That was the third time this week she'd dreamed of that afternoon. She could smell him in the shower, and tried to control both the low growl at him servicing himself, and the surge of heat she felt from her own body. He'd actually been nothing but a gentleman the month and a half she'd been living here.

She'd half expected a repeat of the woods, but he acted as if he weren't interested in her at all anymore. They'd created a child, now her job was done, and he'd rather use his hand.

She rolled over and buried her head on the soft pillow and cried herself back to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXX

Shit, she was doing it again. He swore he was trying for sainthood. That was the damned third time this week. He swore he was going to start growing moss from all the damned cold showers.

He remembered when Mandy was at this point. Emotional, all heat and tears and anger, He'd been patient then, he could be patient now. He hoped she'd respond more to the information he'd given her to read, but all she seemed to want to do was concentrate on the pregnancy.

"When two ferals, in a mating heat, exchange marks that don't fade with the healing factor, but leave a tangible scar upon a feral's body, it is indicative of a stronger bond that forms between them. A mate bond, for lack of a better term. It is far stronger than any relationship between humans, or even between other mutants." He could remember the section almost word for word.

"The outer mark is not only the physical manifestation of the hormonal and pheromonal changes that go on inside the couple's bodies, but of the heightened emotional awareness of each other. In the ten couples in this study, the physical marks faded in three couples who did not conceive an offspring at the initial mating, in the other seven, the marks remained long after the birth of the offspring, and to this day remain in all seven couples. In the three couples who's marks faded, there was an almost obsessive desire to refresh the wounds within a sexual context, and upon second breeding, the marks remained after viable conception of an offspring. All ten males became protective, dominating, and emotionally dependent on the females. There is an increased sexual drive between mated pairs. Females become nurturing, highly protective not only of any offspring but of their male partner, and increasingly violent in situations involving any child."

"Female ferals with strong healing factors lose their healing ability for approximately seven months, from around the twelfth week until approximately the thirty-seventh week of pregnancy. This is theorized to happen to prevent miscarriage due to rejection of the fetus by the woman's healing. Those with Class 6 or higher healing abilities are so reliant on their mutation, especially those over the age of fifty, that this suppression can create major medical complications due to a lack of immunity to pathogens in the atmosphere. It is recommended that females with a healing factor above Class 5 be observed daily for complications during gestation."

"During this time, the male is unable to leave the female's vicinity for any length of time over a few days. His protective instincts will keep him close, and this has been observed to cause friction between the couples."

He pulled a tie out of his closet. She had no idea how often he'd been in her apartment, while she'd slept, or out on the fire escape. At first he'd been furious about the scars, felt like she'd tried to trap him, or that it was something wrong with his healing. After contacting Moira about her work with ferals, he'd calmed down, and realized he had been the one to initiate. It was still partially her fault for being where she shouldn't have been, but he'd been the one who couldn't resist the thought of tasting her.

He tried to remember if he'd ever felt the need to mark Mandy, but he knew he hadn't. She'd been normal, and he'd always been very gentle with her. There had been times he'd considered dumping Jimmy down a well, but Mandy had never been in any danger from him. He smiled as he put on his jacket. She'd been the peacemaker between the brothers, and that winter she'd put up with a whole lot from both of them. James had come for a visit that turned into an extended stay, and the competition between the brothers had driven her up the wall.

He climbed out of the hand hewn stone shower. James wasn't here this time, nothing could go wrong. His mate and cub were safe, or as safe as she could be without an immune system. Her friends kept coming over, hell he actually liked them, and it kept her busy along with the work she was doing from home.

_"Quit drippin' across my floor." Victor growled._

_"Then do something with your wife, you'd think she was in heat, not breedin'." Jimmy snapped back._

_Victor just laughed. It was nice to turn the tables on his younger brother. Normally it was Jimmy with a frail, and Victor left to fend for himself. This time it wasn't just some camp follower, but Victor's wife. He'd finally won the frail war with Jimmy._

_Mandy came in from putting away the little dress she'd been sewing for the baby. she wasn't showing much, but Victor relished the scent of her and the cub. He'd be the first with offspring, too, at this rate. He couldn't stop grinning at James._

_"Victor, quit. This can't be easy on poor James, snowed in with us, and all." She swatted his arm as she walked to the kitchen. "Supper'll be ready soon, so be nice."_

_"Well, he could brave the snow, I hear the cat house has some new girls." Victor said. James just glared at him, and went back outside. Victor laughed even harder._

_"You're mean." She said with a laugh. She checked the stew pot and walked over, where he grabbed her and pulled her down to sit across his lap. He put one hand over the slight bulge in her skirt, and kissed her gently._

_"I ain't that mean, I gave you a cub." He whispered as he rubbed his cheek against hers. She just laughed, and cupped his cheek with her hand._

_"I know. Jimmy's just lonely, that's all." She whispered, and kissed him. "I wish he had what we do."_

_Victor held her close, she knew how to say what he held tight in his heart. He was worried about his little brother, for more than one reason._

_"Go talk to him, something's bothering him." He helped her gently to her feet, and grabbed his coat. It was just a few more days until the US celebrated Thanksgiving, and he had a couple turkeys he'd hung outside to freeze. He was planning on celebrating, even if it wasn't a Canadian holiday. He'd spent too much time in the States to forego the holiday._

_He was picking through the plucked birds when Jimmy walked over._

_"That's some girl you got there." He said._

_"Yep, still not sure how I got so lucky." Victor said._

_"Too bad she don't have a sister." Jimmy said, wistfully._

_"If you got somethin ta say, say it." Victor growled._

_"I'm gonna leave as soon as the snow melts." James said._

_"Why?"_

_"I'm in love with her." Victor felt strange, he'd known for weeks, could smell it, but to hear James admit it...he wasn't angry. He was proud, James was owning up._

_"I know that dumb ass."_

_"It hurts, I know you love her, and damn it, you're the center of her universe and if you don't know it, you should. I ain't ever gonna do anything, but it still hurts listenin to ya." James was growling low as he said it._

_Victor just nodded. "Stay til the cub's born, then go on your way." He asked._

_"I'll try."_

He wanted to have a serious talk with Melinda's supervisor, that woman was a dragon. She'd fought the work from home situation, and some of the things she'd said made him want to find her in a dark alley somewhere and leave nothing but a bloody pulp. Bigots like that deserved what they got.

The Thanksgiving holiday was a week away and he still had things he needed to do before a half a week off. He was adjusting the knot in his tie when a sharp scream broke the silence in the air, and then another.

"VICTOR!"

He ran down the hallway. She was sitting up on the bed, and the smell of blood was fresh in the room.

"Don't move." He grabbed his phone from his pocket and pulled back the blankets. There wasn't a lot of blood on the sheets, but enough to hit the speed dial button for her doctor.

"Doctor Wright's office."

"This is Victor Creed, Melinda Wright is a patient of Dr. Wright's. She's fifteen weeks and woke up spotting blood." He was trying to sound calm.

"Just a moment." He waited while they played horrible music. "The doctor is unable to make a house call, you can take her into the hospital, or bring her to the clinic, but with her compromised immune system, the doctor would rather you watch her there. If there is any more blood or it gets heavier, you will need to take her to the ER. Call in advance though, so they can have a sterile room ready for her. If it stops keep her in bed as much as possible and Dr. Wright will try to come by in the morning."

He growled, but agreed. So much for the office. Now he was going to have to babysit.

He hit the second speed dial number.

"Hello Vic, what's up?" Terry answered.

"We've got spotting today, I'm not sure how much work she's gonna get done." He said.

"Okay, I'll pass that on to Martha. See if you can get her to take some leave."

"Yeah right." He muttered, if there was one thing he'd learned about his mate, she was stubborn, hell she might be able to out stubborn him. Maybe a day at home for both of them wasn't a bad idea.

"Do you play chess?" He asked.

"Yes." She looked at him strangely, and he could smell the suspicion. He had to break those barriers of hers, or this was going to be a long and miserable life for both of them.

"I'll get the board."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Sorry no lemons in this chapter, but maybe some movement in one direction or another.

Chapter 5

She was a decent chess player, enough that he actually lost track of time while playing for several hours.

"You don't have to keep me company." She said finally, after his second loss of the day.

"It's my job." He said simply.

"No, it isn't. I am perfectly capable of staying in bed." He let out a low growl. He didn't know how to get through, she wasn't accepting him, not really.

"Damn it, frail, you're my mate, come hell or high water, your health and well being IS my fucking job, especially while you're breedin'." He heard himself slip into the animal's speech pattern and silently cursed himself. He couldn't let it out, not now, not while things were hanging by a thread.

"I still don't understand all this mate crap, but I am not going to do anything that puts this baby in jeopardy." Melinda snapped back.

"You aren't, but it is anyway, and so are you. It is my job to protect you to the best of my ability, it is instinct." He tried to explain it calmly. It was stronger with Melinda, than it had been with Mandy, but it was at least familiar to him. The intensity, and the beast fighting for control constantly, that had him on edge, but he understood it.

"I don't need you hovering over me, I will call you if I need you." She pushed the hand carved chess board away. He growled, but retreated. The damned frail had him so confused, one minute, she'd be conversational, and he thought he might be getting somewhere, finding a way inside the thick armor she kept around herself, and then, like now, he'd be dismissed.

He carefully picked up the pieces. It wasn't his best work, but he still took pride in the carvings. He heard her settling into the bed. She smelled tired, maybe that was it, she just needed a nap. He pulled the door closed behind him.

He put the board and pieces back in the drawer in the heavy coffee table and sat down on the couch. Today had been a total bust, unless you counted learning how her mind worked, playing chess.

She was a safe player, but when she took a risk it was a big one. He'd rarely played a frail that treated the Queen like an expendable piece, most women were as protective of the Queen as the King, but she'd thrown it away on more than one occasion.

It told him more than she probably thought, and he was going to have to think, and plan his next moves. Living with her was like a game of chess, and he had no idea how to protect his Queen, if she was so unconcerned about her own position.

He smelled Terry before she hit the main door of the penthouse. He opened the door before she knocked.

"How is she?" Terry didn't even say hello.

"I think she's sleeping." He said. This friend of hers was becoming familiar, almost too familiar, and he had adjusted to her scent in his home as belonging, not as an invader.

"Good, I wanted to talk to you." Terry said. She walked into the living room and dropped into one of the chairs. Neither her, nor Susan would actually sit on any piece of furniture that didn't leave them partially protected around him. He wasn't sure why that bothered him.

"What do you plan to do after the baby's born?"

"What do you mean?"

"About Mel?"

"She's my mate. There isn't anything to do. They will come back here and the cub will grow up."

"What exactly do you mean, she's your mate?" Terry asked.

"She's my biological mate, I didn't ask for it, but I'm willing to work with her. We're somewhat limited, the cub made it permanent, so its not like I can just run off into the sunset. We're mated for life."

"That's not what I meant. What exactly does being a mate entail?"

"We can only reproduce with each other," he started, thinking about what was in Moira's report "we can't be very far away from each other for any length of time, with our healing factors, we'll be companions the rest of our lives." He was deliberately not thinking about the sexual side, the intense attraction he felt, that kept him in cold showers every day, the intense need to touch her skin, to have her scent around him, the driving need to taste her skin, her lips again.

"Okay this is worse than I thought." Terry said.

"What do you mean, worse?"

"Mel - well she just doesn't know how to be a 'mate,' has she said anything about Edgar?"

"Just that she was married and he abused her, and that it was a long time ago."

Terry took a deep breath. "Has she told you about him cutting the baby out of her?"

"She mentioned it."

"Did she tell you she killed him?"

"No." He wasn't surprised, hell he was glad she could take care of business if she needed to."

"She did, then burned the house down. Took off on the first boat going as far from New York as she could get. She ended up in Darwin, Australia."

He just nodded. This was as much as he'd learned in the month and a half she'd been under his roof.

"She opened an orphanage for half-cast kids on a piece of land she bought. Was a real pain in the ass for the authorities, then when the Jap's attacked, she took off into the outback, she still won't talk about her walkabout years."

"This was before WWII?" That surprised him. He knew she was old, just not that old.

"She was born in nineteen twenty-two." Terry said.

He jolted a bit, just two years after Mandy and Lissa died. He took a deep breath.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked, realizing that she was probably betraying confidences that took years to get.

"You need to know, I've been telling her to talk to you but she just clams up." She took a deep breath. "She saved my life."

"How?"

"When she came back to the states, she went into nursing, pediatric oncology. I had childhood onset leukemia, and she was my nurse. She never let me give up, but it tore her up every time a patient didn't make it."

"How old were you?"

"Seven."

He nodded again, more pieces of the puzzle that was his mate falling into place.

"She spent close to thirty million dollars over the last three years on fertility treatments."

"She's been trying to replace the child he took away." It wasn't a question.

Terry nodded. "She's never had a relationship that I'm aware of. Hell when she told us about you...we were shocked. There was a guy, once. When she was in Australia, he was a doctor who helped her take care of the orphans. She never really knew how he felt until after he died. She just doesn't see it."

He just nodded. He was starting to see a whole picture. She blamed herself for letting him kill the child, she'd worked her entire life trying to replace what was taken from her, not because she felt she deserved it, but because, somehow, in her mind it would make it right.

"She doesn't see you. All she sees is the child, Victor. You see her, and the child, and are trying to build something, but she can't see it." Terry said. "She may never see it."

Victor frowned. She had no choice, and it wasn't him that would make her see, but her own body. Right now he could smell her, the longing ache, the pain she was putting herself through, when all she had to do was ask, and he'd be glad to ease it.

_"Damn it Vic, this shit is heavy." James groaned as he moved the chest. Victor just grinned and shifted his side. He only had the back left to finish, and he wasn't about to leave her Christmas present half finished._

_"Quit yer bitchen'." Victor said, dropping his side. He pulled his work bench over and sat down. He'd been hiding in the barn more and more, as she spent her days sewing for the baby. She was bound and determined the cub was a girl, but he knew better. There was no way in hell he'd sire anything but a male. She was makin all these sissy, prissy dresses and bonnets and he had to get away from all the female frills. So he came out here to work._

_"Why the hell do you have to do the damned back?" Jimmy groaned, glaring at the offending piece of furniture. "It's not like she'll see it."_

_"I will know. I want it perfect." He growled. Jimmy just didn't get it, and Victor couldn't blame him. It was the little things that made everything perfect. It was the ache in her back that he rubbed out at night, the foot he massaged in his lap while she sat in her chair by the fire. It was her fingers in his hair, her soft whimpers in his ear at night while she slept. For the first time in his life he felt almost complete. _

_He never told her he felt like something was missing, like there was something deep inside that still was empty, but she came so damned close to filling everything in his soul, that he could ignore one or two empty spots, and if she wanted to believe the cub was a female, then he'd make sure she had everything she needed to make everything a female cub would need._

_"Damn this winter." Jimmy groused from the door. The snow had hardly let up for the last month. Christmas was only a few weeks away, and Victor wanted to finish this chest before it came._

_"You could make it." Victor said, knowing that James was being as patient as he could._

_"No, I said I'll stay. I just wish I had somethin ta do."_

_"There's lumber there, I was plannin on makin a rockin' chair, if you want ta work on it." Victor said. James glared at him, but picked up a thin piece of pine, and clamped it to the lathe. _

_"Better than goin blind in the snow." Jimmy grumbled, the two brothers worked quietly, both listening for any cry from the house that said Mandy was in any pain or danger. Victor opened the chest and looked at what was inside. The bolt of lawn was white as snow, and the red wool would make Mandy a fine dress. The bonnet and booties lay on top of the pristine white christening gown. He'd ordered them last month, and wanted to make sure she had them by Christmas._

_He chuckled. She was so absorbed with the baby he doubted she'd even thought that it was almost Christmas._

_It was almost dark when they heard her calling them in to supper._

_"Victor, what the hell are you boys doin out there. It's colder'n a witches tit out there." She said as he kissed her._

_"Just workin on traps and tools for spring." He said. "Gotta have everything ready when I go out to set traps."_

_"Well it can't take all day." She grumbled, but he heard the moan, and his hands gently kneaded the tense muscles in her lower back. She'd been sitting in her sewing chair all day again, and it would take hours before she could relax tonight to sleep._

_"Darlin, you need ta rest too, your back's all tense."_

_"Don't you tell me ta rest. Ah got jest a few more months before this baby gets here and I don't have a momma ta help me get ready. If I don't, we won't have what we need." She started. He leaned down and kissed the familiar complaint away._

_"All right." He said. "I'm hitchin' the sleigh up tomorrow, gonna try ta make it into town for some supplies."_

_"Victor, please, don't leave me." She whimpered._

_"I'll just be gone till tomorrow night. James will stay."_

_"Please." She whimpered._

_"Mandy, we're short on coffee, and if I don't get some cigars I'm gonna gut somethin." He growled, and she laughed. "Besides we need sugar and flour and some canned food."_

_She glanced at the depleted shelves in the kitchen and nodded. Having James with them was a tax on the supplies he'd laid in. _

_"All right...but I want to come."_

_"Mandy you're in no condition..."_

_"I need some things. Buttons for one, I'm runnin' out, and thread, I broke two needles yesterday so I need a new card."_

_"What the hell are you sewin that you broke needles?" He asked._

_"The baby's gonna need blankets and carriers, and they don't make themselves" He just rolled his eyes. To tell the truth he was glad she wanted to go._

_"Fine, we'll all three go, maybe Jimmy'll find him a cat house and stop drivin us both nuts." Victor growled, but she laughed again. Somehow his growls never bothered her._

_"What Jimmy needs is a wife, not a whore." She said, and Victor chuckled. She was right, too right, but he knew his brother's honor would never let him do anything to hurt either of them._

_"We'll brave it, tomorrow, if there is no more snow tonight." He said finally._

_She smiled, and walked into the kitchen. She was moving with more difficulty, even though the bump under her skirts wasn't that big yet. Soon she wouldn't be able to travel at all, and he wanted to make sure she could go into town as much as possible. She needed to talk to other women, he knew there were fears she didn't tell him, things only another woman would understand._

_She smiled at him as she put his plate on the table. He felt the deep warmth in his chest that smile always brought. She would never know just how much she'd changed him, he looked at his hands as he washed them in the basin by the door. For the first time in years they didn't have deep blood stains, for the first time in years they were clean from honest work, and as long as she lived, they'd stay that way._

"Victor?"

He shook his head. "Thank you, Terry. I have a better idea of how things lay, and maybe I can get through."

"I'm telling you, I don't think you can. And what scares me the most, is she's acting like she's going to bolt."

Victor felt a surge of white hot panic, she couldn't...he needed her, and the cub. Those holes that Mandy never filled, when he looked at Melinda sleeping in her bed, he couldn't feel them anymore. He knew it was the mate bond, knew it wasn't what he'd felt for Mandy, but in time, with patience, it could be. When she let him in, for those few seconds or moments she did, he liked her, wanted to be with her, wanted to see her unguarded smile. She had to let him in. If she didn't, he was going to have to break her walls, and he didn't want to destroy her.


	6. Chapter 6

She hoped he hadn't noticed the long package that was delivered for her yesterday. She still had a few living contacts in the outback, and finding just the right piece of wood had been the real test. Making the instrument itself wouldn't be that difficult.

The other piece of wood was almost finished, and she had another delivery she was expecting in the next week, if it got through customs, she never thought importing the wood would be the biggest obstacle.

She wasn't even sure why she was making them, except the Dreaming told her too. She'd learned to trust the Dreaming, and knew, somehow, that her efforts were important, as was the secrecy.

Terry kept telling her that she needed to pay more attention to Victor, but Terry didn't understand. She hadn't lived the Dreaming. She was having to manage not just her women's work but the men's work as well, for both the child and her mate. She remembered the old man who'd taken her in after she'd left Darwin.

They'd traveled deep into the desert, and he'd shown her the Dreaming. Not all of it, that would take even more years than she had, but the parts that pertained her; she'd been promised a child, a mate, as long as she kept to the Dreaming.

One of the parts of the dream, was making his weapons, she had to do it, and had to have them ready by Christmas. Susan and Terry just didn't understand. She wasn't fully sure she understood.

The child she could understand, she felt it grow under her ribs, felt its movement as the spirit child entered it, sang the songs to let it know it was welcome. For a moment she'd been afraid it would leave her, the day they played chess, but it stayed, and she felt more movement every day.

She glanced at the carvings on the 'rang. She'd tried to reproduce the sand lizard she'd seen, but it just seemed crude to her eyes. Maybe if she shaved a bit off the tail it would look better.

She heard him get up and move around in his bedroom. She knew he'd be in to check on her soon, so she hid the 'rang and the long hollow piece of wood in her closet and quickly returned to bed. She didn't want him knowing what she was up to.

"Morning, the decorators will be here later to put up the holiday shit." He said from the door. He never entered her room anymore, just stood outside the door to talk to her. She wondered what she'd done to piss him off this time.

"Okay, I'll stay out of their way." She said softly.

"They'll need someone to tell them where to put shit. I normally don't care." He turned. "I'll be in the office all day if you need me."

"Okay." She said. He wanted her to tell people where to put up holiday decorations. She hadn't messed with them since right before the war.

_"Melinda, do you want it here or there?" John asked._

_"I don't care, I just want the children to have one." She said. John just gave her that look, the long suffering, I'll do it because she wants me to look._

_"You know, Christmas is different down here." He said, laughing._

_"Yes, it's hot, there's no snow, and you idiot people don't know how to grow a decent Christmas tree." She said with a sniff._

_"Frail, our Christmas trees are just fine, and at least ya can go for a swim." He laughed._

_"Heaven forbid." She said laughing. She caught a look he gave her, and felt something like a pain deep in her chest. He did that sometimes, when he thought she wasn't looking, or wouldn't notice. _

_"Please Dr. Morgan, just put the damned tree any old place. The children will love it in spite of it not being 'traditional'." She glared at him again and walked up the stairs._

_"Yes, Ma'am Ms. Welch." He grumbled behind her. "What do you want me to do with this sheit." She turned around and looked at what he was asking about. _

_The large sprig of mistletoe still had the white waxy berries on it. "Hang it up high, and don't let the children eat the berries, they're poisonous." She said._

_"Hang it up high she says, don't let the creamies eat the berries she says, who the bloody hell does she think she is." She heard him muttering. She grinned. He let her rule everything, without any complaint other than the muttered ones under his breath he didn't know she could hear._

_Later that afternoon she went into the kitchen to start dinner for the children._

_"Ms. Welch, is that where you wanted the mistletoe?" John asked, pointing over the stove. She glanced up and saw a large sprig hung from the rafters._

_"Well it is definitely out of..." His lips on hers were soft, not harsh like Edgar's had been, but she still jumped away as if burned._

_"Isn't that what you do, under mistletoe?" He asked, confused._

_"Yes, I'm sorry, I'm just not used to..." She started._

_"Whoever he is, I hope he's dead, or that he crosses my path." John said with an edge to his voice. _

_"He's dead." She said simply. She didn't tell anyone her past, her business. It wasn't safe._

_"Good." John said. "I'm sorry for startling you, good day, Ms. Welch. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask." Somehow she felt he meant more than what he said, but she just couldn't put her finger on it._

"Call me if you need anything." Victor said from the door.

She nodded, then thought about it. "Victor, I don't have any idea where you might want things, and I don't know what's important here...could you please come up when they get here to help?"

He gave her a strange look, like the ones John used to give her, for just a second, but he nodded. When he looked at her, his usual sneer was in place. "Call me when they get here, I've got work to do."

She nodded. Maybe she could figure this out after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

She'd actually asked him for something other than pass the salt. He waited until he was down in his office to actually smile. He'd stayed out of her room, she was going to have to ask him to come in, ask for something, see him as someone she needed, and until she did, he would stay on the outside looking in.

Maybe she was actually trying. Maybe the girls were just being pessimistic. He'd still managed to cover every possible flight path she might take, not only here at the building, but at the hospital and doctor's office. There was no way she was going to bolt and him not know about it. And if she did, he'd just hunt her down and drag her back...if she didn't come crawling back when things got too uncomfortable without him.

She was going to have to deal with him, eventually. He thought about his plans for the holiday. He was carving her a chess set of her own, and a box to put little things in. It wasn't the cedar chest he'd carved Mandy, but he just didn't have the time, or space, to hide something that big. He knew she'd probably not even think about him for the holiday, but for some reason, like with Mandy, he didn't care. He just wanted to make sure he was thinking of her.

_"Victor, it's not gonna fit. The hole's just too damned small." She said. He glared down at her._

_"It'll fit, and after all this time playin' with it, it better fit, or I'm gonna just shove it in, and tear the hole open." He growled back. The snow frosted her hair as she glared at the tree they'd been trimming for two days._

_"It is not going to fit in the door." She said. "We need the smaller one."_

_"JAMES!" Victor roared as his brother rolled in the snow laughing his ass off. "Damn it." Fine, after two days, they were going to have to cut the little damned tree. It was a stupid damned tradition anyway._

_He cut down the smaller, ragged tree. He'd wanted their tree to be perfect, but if she wanted this raggedy little thing, he'd haul it in there, and show her the big damned tree would fit through the door._

_He had to trim the little one to get it to fit. Damn it all to hell, she'd been right, and Jimmy wasn't helping things, laughing his ass off like that._

_It was a good think he'd planned on hiding in the shed the rest of the evening anyway, because now he was pissed at both of them._

_"Thank you, Victor, it's perfect." She whispered as she kissed him gently. He pulled her close, and felt something push back against him._

_"She's moving." Mandy said._

_"Was that him?"_

_"It was HER." Mandy said with a laugh._

_"Fine, at least she's got her daddy's strength, but she better have her momma's looks, or I'll have ta pay someone ta marry her." He growled. She just laughed._

_"I'm tired, after I finish decorating it, I'm gonna go on ta bed." She said. He just nodded, that would make things easier for him. He and James still had to get the chest and the rocker into the house after she went to sleep._

_He slipped out, to check on the horse he said, but managed to duck into the shed. He was putting the finishing touches on the back head rest of the chair when James came out._

_"She's gone to bed." He said simply. They waited about an hour, while Victor played with his carving, until they were sure she was good and asleep. Jimmy helped him carry the chest, and then made the second run for the chair. There were a pile of paper wrapped parcels under the branches of the tree, four for him and two for Jimmy. What the hell had she been up to._

_He growled good night to his brother and went into their bedroom. She was sleeping soundly so he quietly took off his shirt. He was going to have to have her repair the sleeve again, he'd ripped it moving the chest. _

_"Victor?" She whispered in her sleep._

_"I'm here, Mandy." He whispered as he climbed into bed. She curled up against him, her head resting over his heartbeat. He felt the cub push against him again and grinned. Life was quiet and tomorrow was Christmas morning._

_He woke first, and quietly went into the kitchen and stared a pot of coffee. The trip into town had resupplied their kitchen for at least two more months, and she should have plenty to keep her busy and content once she opened the chest. The rest of the things he'd ordered were there when they went to town, so now she wouldn't have just the one book to read._

_James came crawling out of his nest, and just grunted at the smell of coffee. Mandy finally came in and stopped dead, looking at the tree._

_"Victor Creed!" She squealed, and ran to him. He picked her up and swung her gently around. "I knew you were up ta somethin." _

_"Open it." He said. She walked over and pushed the heavy lid back on its hinges. He'd spent the money on the locking ones so it wouldn't fall down on her. _

_"Oh, Victor..." She brushed her fingers over the four books laying on top of the bolts of fabric. "Jules Verne, Conan Doyle, Franz Kafka and the new Tarzan book, and this fabric...how'd you know I was almost out of lawn."_

_"I've been watchin." He said simply._

_She pulled out the christening gown, and the look she gave him, with the tiny gems of her tears told him everything he needed to know. She stood and threw herself into his arms, still clutching the tiny bonnet in her hand._

_"I told you it was a girl." She whispered._

_"I know." He whispered back._

_"Here, these are for you." She pulled the packages from under the tree._

_"Mandy, you should be workin on stuff for the cub." He said._

_"Shut up and open your Christmas presents, idiot." She snapped. He grinned, being gravid had given her a temper. The first one was a fine lawn shirt, way too fine to wear for working in._

_"I figured you could wear that to church this spring, after the snow melts." She said softly. Church? Hell he'd go to the moon and listen to a water buffalo if she wanted him to._

_The second package was a work shirt made from the fabric he'd bought her to make her a new dress out of._

_"Mandy this fabric..." He started._

_"I got my dress, and out of what was left made you that, so hush." She said._

_The other two packages were a suit coat and pants. He'd not had one of those in years. _

_"I figured you could use it, when you're sellin' hides, or for church, or somethin." She said._

_He picked her up and held her close. The fabric for the suit was a grey wool he'd bought for her to make a good winter dress with, instead she'd made him the finest suit he'd ever owned._

_"It's Jimmy's turn." She said. He'd almost forgotten his brother, standing back in the corner._

_"The rocker's from him." Victor said as he put her back down on her feet. _

_She walked over and sat down in it and smiled. Jimmy walked over slowly and sat down on the floor near the tree. He opened the first package, it was a heavy work shirt with leather patches on the elbows and leather trim down the front. The second was a new pair of trousers._

_"Thank ya Mandy." James said, a slight catch in his voice. Victor pause for a moment. This was the first Christmas they'd actually celebrated since they'd left the Howlett farm, but Jimmy had celebrated them before, with his mother and John Howlett. Damn, Victor never realized he might miss them._

_"Thank you, Jimmy, its a fine chair."_

_Victor insisted that she rest, and he cooked breakfast. The day was as close to perfect as he could remember._

He opened the door just as the delivery guy was dropping off a long package by the door, it was addressed to Melinda.

He took a sniff, and nearly backed up, the eucalyptus oil in whatever she'd ordered was strong enough to open an elephant's sinuses. He shrugged. He had no idea what she was up to, and until she asked him into her life, he wasn't going to care.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N This is just a peaceful breather for both parties involved. I am NO WHERE NEAR DONE with this one so no one panic.

I've actually had this Christmas scene planned for a while, but this is no where near over.

Chapter 7

He woke on Christmas morning, almost as excited as he'd been for Mandy's Christmas. He'd wrapped her presents last night, and slipped them under the expensive tree after she went to bed. He just used old brown paper and twine. After he went to bed, he thought he'd heard her up and moving around, but controlled his surge of hope, he doubted she'd even remember the holiday.

He heard her moving around in her room and climbed out of bed. He could smell anticipation, and felt that tiny surge of hope again. Maybe it would be a good Christmas.

He pulled on a robe and opened his door. She was standing, uncertainly at hers.

"Race ya." He said like an excited cub, and she grinned, not a guarded smile but a real, honest grin, and took off running for the living room. He took off after her, and in their enthusiasm, he hard things crashing off shelves, and even pieces of furniture collapsing. He didn't care, it could all be replaced, and was worth it for that smile.

She skidded to a stop in front of the tree, her toe claws digging up splinters from the hardwood floor. He laughed and stopped just short of running into her. Then he just stared.

Was that a boomerang? And the spear, carved with aboriginal protection carvings. He'd spent some time down under himself, between one war and another, but before world war one, then he saw the didgeridoo. He hadn't seen one in years, it was also hand carved.

He was speechless.

"I hope you like them." She said softly.

"So that's what you've been up to." He smiled at her. "I can't find words, they are perfect." He was rewarded with another of those smiles, and sat down on the floor to watch her open hers.

The chess set was first and he was surprised by the tears in her eyes. The box, which he'd filled with a few things, she just sat and stroked like it was a treasure itself.

"Open it." He said, and she looked at him, then slowly opened the box.

Nestled inside were smaller boxes, and she opened each one slowly, as if it had a snake inside.

Most of them were small trinkets he'd picked up for her or the baby, booties, mittens, stocking caps for the hospital after she gave birth, a silver charm bracelet for her, with a selection of charms she could put on it, and last, but by no means least, the ring.

"I can't." She whispered.

"Read it first." He said.

She pulled the thick gold band out of the box. She turned it so she could read the inscription.

"Bound and mated Aug, 2011, this celebrates the beginning, but by no means the end."

"I know you are scared of marriage, I will never ask you, unless you want me to. You are my mate, and I am yours.". He pulled the corresponding ring from his robe pocket and slipped it on his right ring finger. He took the one from her hand and mirrored his actions.

"Right hand, not married, agreed."

"Yes." It was soft, but he was glad he hadn't missed it.

"I've got one more, but only if you want it." She nodded slowly as if thinking about it.

"It was 1919 and I was trapping in the Canadian rockies. I met her when she wandered off from town and her father forced us to marry, said I'd compromised her honor.". He started. He knew this was going to be hard. He hadn't even told Jimmy what happened, just that they were dead.

_He heard her scream and dropped the traps in his hand. Jimmy had left just three days ago, and he didn't want to get very far from the cabin. He wanted to get the traps closest to the cabin out, he'd seen beaver sign just last week. He ran as fast as he could,it was only a few hundred yards, but they were waiting for him. There were sixteen, he'd find out later, after dragging the bodies away, but it seemed like more._

_Joe and Conrad and two others had her on the table, the door to the cabin was open, he watched, as the others held him down as Joe cut the skirt from her dress, and then plunged the knife into her swollen belly. She was due any day now. He heard the tiny cry, and watched as his father in law lifted a bloody form in the air. He could hear what was being said, but didn't understand over the roar of pain and rage in his ears. He wouldn't remember what he heard for years._

_"A freak like its father. The bitch should thank me." Joe said, as he snapped the newborn's neck. "And as for the whore that bore it, better she die too."_

_Victor broke free and rushed the cabin, her face was turned so she could see him, and she screamed his name as the bloody knife came down, silencing her forever with a single thrust to the heart. Victor didn't stop his rush, and ripped Joe's throat out with the same swipe that took Conrad's arm off. The other two men tried to flee, but he killed them both with practiced ease._

_By the time he was done twenty-one men were dead, and dragged into the forest for the wolves, he spent two days digging their graves and building their coffins, alone. He didn't even stop to eat, drink or sleep. He laid her out in her best dress, and put the christening gown on Lissa. The stones were small, just what he could find._

_"Mandy Creed, beloved wife and mother, born 1900, died 1920._

_"Lissa Creed, beloved daughter, born April 16, 1920, died April 16, 1920."_

_He destroyed the table, then sealed the cabin, and never looked back._

"I blamed my brother for leaving. If he'd stayed like he promised, he'd have been at the cabin, he'd have been able to hold them til I got there."

She stood up, and walked over to where he was sitting on the floor. She wrapped her arms around him, and held him to her belly. He felt the movement of the child growing there, and wrapped his arms around her, giving in to something he never had before. She held him as he sobbed, without judgment, or pity.

"I don't know how to love, not the way you do. I'm trying; you just have to give me time." She whispered.

"Take all you need. At least we have one thing both of us love." He placed his hand over the distention of her belly and was rewarded with another movement.

It wasn't perfect, but it was a beginning.


End file.
